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ToggleThe Retail Execution Tools are being transformed with robust tools that are powered by cutting-edge technologies to create customer-centric strategies that foster brand-shopper relationship.
With a value of 950 billion USD in the year 2018, the Indian retail industry is burgeoning at a rapid pace. In fact, the country is the fifth most preferred destination for retail in the world. To keep developing at this pace, the Indian retail industry needs to keep abreast of global trends.
With massive changes in the industry and the world around, retail execution has changed. The modern-day retail execution goes hand in hand with technological advancements. In addition to that, the retail industry is pacing towards a business-model that stresses on customer experience and customer happiness. Hence, Retail Execution Tools has transformed into a technology-driven and customer-centric process.
In his interview, Mr Paramdeep Singh CEO of FieldAssist said: “Retail Execution Tools is one of the crucial components of brand’s strategy, but it goes in vain if brands and store representatives don’t have such technology and data at their disposal that can allow them to make smart decisions”. He ascertained that businesses should stress on using cutting-edge tools that could help them enhance their sales while fostering a relationship with the end consumer.
So are you using tools for retail execution, or you are following an old-school method? If you are still using traditional methods, it’s time to change.
Today, technologies like AI and machine learning are making huge waves across various domains. These have even penetrated into the retail sector and transformed retail execution. An array of cloud-based and AI-driven tools have the power to simplify and enhance retail execution. These Retail Execution Tools facilitate in optimizing store visit planning and execution; in the creation and implementation of better shelf strategies and to capture order data in a much better way. Now, let’s find out how modern-day retail execution will garner success for your business.
Data-driven Retail Execution Tools are the key to success for any retail business
Retail Execution Tools refers to the process of planning and implementation of correct shelf strategies and other strategies at the POP (Point-of-Purchase). It stresses at delivering the right products to the right place at the right time, such that it reaches the right customers. Hence, it ensures that correct strategies are implemented at the POP. It involves:
- Enhancing the visibility of products by creating robust shelf strategies
- Analyzing shopper’s trends to predict demands
- Analyzing retail data for better merchandising
- Planning and executing targeted product promotions
As per stats, almost 70% of buying decisions are made by shoppers at POP (Point Of Purchase). Customers are most likely to switch to another product or brand if they found another product with a better promotional offer; store representative suggested another product; their peers recommended a different product or if the product is not visible. Here, data-driven retail execution serves as a game-changer. When you have access to more data, you can understand your customers, address them in a better way and create a strong bond with them. Now, let’s see how this happens.
Modern-day Retail Execution emphasize on strengthening the brand-shopper relationship
In the present context, Retail Execution Tools are being transformed with the availability of robust tools. The Retail Execution Tools empower brands, sales managers and store representatives with actionable data and powerful insights. These, in turn, assist in making well-informed and smart decisions.
When you are able to analyze and predict the demands of shoppers, you can practice targeted rotation of products and augment your sales as well as overall profitability. You can also formulate powerful promotion strategies to magnetize new customers and retain existing ones. Furthermore, when the right products are delivered to the right customers, it enhances customer experience. This not only enhances sales, but it also builds your rapport with your shoppers.
Tech-enabled retail execution will empower you to expand your product line catering to the demands and needs of customers. With smart retail execution tools, you can access profiles of different shoppers in different stores. In this way, you can gain insights on customer trends so that you can decide which products you need to send to which store. Retail Execution also ensures 100% availability of all/popular products of brands. In this way, gratifying experience for customers is created. It also ensures that customers never leave an outlet without the product that they wanted to buy. No, let us look into some of the benefits of using software/tools for retail execution.
Enhanced retail execution with more data, faster communication and better training of store representatives
Though customers have the option to visit a brand’s website, browse through its products and chat with its representatives, still 85% of customers give preference to in-store purchases. Hence, you can leverage right Retail Execution Tools to catch the attention of your customers. With more data, you can work on enhancing interactions with patrons and comprehending their likes as well as dislikes.
Since the direct interaction of customers takes place with store representatives, they should be trained effectively to spread brand awareness and create customer loyalty. You can deploy various tools and mobile app to communicate quickly with representatives and keep them updated with information related to products. Store representatives can be trained from time to time through these Retail Execution Tools.
You can even influence the buying decision of consumers by displaying advertisements and ensuring the availability of brand representative at the POP. When you have access to data such as shopper’s profiles, industry trends and other industry data, you can align POP strategies with these. In fact, a rise of 5% in annual sales can be witnessed with better POP strategies.
The store representatives can also deploy retail execution tools to manage their tasks. When representatives have complete information about a brand and its products, they can communicate in a better way with end consumers. The Retail Execution Tools also save the time of store representative in auditing, which can be used to build better relationships with customers. In this way, businesses can transform retail execution by leveraging robust tools that automate less-important task thereby allowing more time to build a brand-customer relationship. So, you should deploy robust tools for seamless retail execution.
About Post Author
Rashmi Kapse
Rashmi is a Content Specialist at FieldAssist. After spending 11 years in the Executive Search business she decided to change tracks and follow her passion for writing. For the past 8 years, she has been writing on Sales Tech, HR Tech, FMCG, Consumer Goods, F&B and Health & Wellness.